MANILA, Philippines – Multiple incidents of malfunctioning vote-counting machines (VCM) and SD cards have been reported on election day, May 9.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Marlon Casquejo said that as of past 4 pm Monday, 168 VCMs and 176 SD cards had been found defective.

Some 44 VCMs and 81 SD cards have been replaced.

The 168 defective machines account for 0.15% of the 107,345 VCMs in use for the 2022 elections.

Earlier on Monday, Comelec Commissioner George Garcia said over 1,800 machines with minor issues had been fixed as of 10 am. These issues include paper jams, rejected ballots, and machines not printing properly.

The poll body previously said it had activated eight regional hubs across the country to address problems involving the VCMs and SD cards.

Of the total number of VCMs for the 2022 polls, 97,345 were used in the past two elections.

Acknowledging that the machines’ quality might have suffered over time, the Comelec refurbished the machines with the help of tech provider Smartmatic in 2021.

The 10,000 remaining machines, meanwhile, were leased by the poll body for the 2022 polls.

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In the event of malfunctioning equipment, voting must continue, according to the contingency procedures set in place by the Comelec.

The voter has two options:

1. proceed with voting, but agree to sign a waiver of their right to be issued a receipt; the electoral board will batch-feed the ballots before the polls close
2. wait for the VCM malfunction issue to be resolved so they could personally feed their ballot

There are multiple reports of voters hesitant to surrender their ballots to poll workers in precincts where the VCM or SD card malfunctioned. For the record, this is a contingency procedure of the Comelec. @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/2RfMnlyyqC

— Dwight De Leon (@newsdwight) May 9, 2022

When contingency procedures are being undertaken, they should be conducted with watchers present, according to Comelec Resolution 10759, promulgated in January. – Rappler.com